OSCE
Kazakhstan Politics Roundup - July 16, 2008
Kazakhstan hosts OSCE parliamentary assembly
(Eurasia Daily Monitor) - The 17th session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly hosted by Kazakhstan in Astana is generally seen as a diplomatic victory for Kazakhstan on its uphill way to political recognition by the Western world.
Presidents of UAE and Kazakhstan hold talks (Gulf News)
Kazakhstan Politics Roundup - July 10, 2008
Nazarbayev hints that democratization will take back seat on OSCE agenda
(EurasiaNet) - President Nursultan Nazarbayev has given a preview of how Kazakhstan will approach its chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in 2010, and the future does not look pretty for the organization’s democratization component.
Nobel Prize for alleged human rights offender?
(ABC News) - Controversial President of Kazakhstan is backed for Nobel by US lawmakers.
Kazakhstan Politics Roundup - July 2, 2008
U.S. lawmakers question Kazakhstan’s fitness to chair OSCE
(EurasiaNet) - A U.S. congressional delegation visiting Kazakhstan called on the country to speed up democratic reforms ahead of assuming the chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in 2010.
Managing to be friends with everyone
(Financial Times) - Nursultan Nazarbayev, Kazakhstan’s president, is hosting a party this week to mark his 68th birthday and the first decade of Astana, the new capital he has built in the central Asian steppe.
Chairing the OSCE will test democratic commitment
(Financial Times) - Kazakhstan’s president is considering ordering a snap parliamentary election next year, setting the stage for more pluralistic political debate.
Kazakh leader vows reform before taking OSCE chair
Kazakhstan’s president promised the West on Sunday his country would pursue democratic change before its chairmanship of Europe’s main human rights watchdog in 2010.
Kazakhstan Politics Roundup - June 30, 2008
Kazakh leader vows reform before taking OSCE chair
(Reuters) - Kazakhstan’s president promised the West on Sunday his country would pursue democratic change before its chairmanship of Europe’s main human rights watchdog in 2010.
What will Russia gain from Kazakhstan’s OSCE chairmanship
(Eurasia Daily Monitor) - As Kazakhstan’s long-awaited term of chairmanship of the OSCE draws near, Astana is stepping up its multifaceted ties with the West, disregarding the painful reaction of the Kremlin to any westward movement in Central Asia.
Central Asia: Western democracies enable ‘petro-authoritarianism” - report
(EurasiaNet) - Driven by “petro-authoritarianism,” the countries of Central Asia are thoroughly throttling democratization, according to an annual survey conducted by the watchdog group Freedom House.
Transparency is key item of OSCE PA session in Astana (Itar-Tass)
Kazakhstan stands for transformation of the OSCE into a powerful organization: President (Kazinform)
Kazakhstan welcomes European experience in regional integration - Nazarbaev (Interfax)
U.S. envoy to OSCE says Kazakhstan lagging in reforms
The deputy chief of the U.S. mission to the OSCE, Kyle Scott, has told RFE/RL’s Kazakh Service after his arrival for the assembly meeting that there are lingering concerns over the implementation of those reforms.
Kazakhstan: Country Outlook
FROM THE ECONOMIST INTELLIGENCE UNIT
The president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, will stay in power in 2008-09, having consolidated his hold on Kazakhstan’s political structures, but could face growing dissatisfaction among businesses owing to the slow pace of reforms. Rising inflation and liquidity problems in the banking sector will be among the government’s main policy challenges in 2008-09. The National Bank of Kazakhstan (NBK, the central bank) might be forced to raise the refinancing rate from 11% if inflation remains higher than targeted. The Economist Intelligence Unit forecasts real GDP growth of 6.7% in 2008, rising to 7.1% in 2009. This is much slower than in recent years, and reflects the dampening effect of the global credit squeeze on Kazakhstan’s growth. High food prices and a loosening fiscal policy will exert upward pressure on consumer prices, pushing average annual inflation upwards to over 17% in 2008, from 10.8% in 2007. Disinflation should take hold in 2009. The possibility of more sustained downward pressure on the currency has risen, and greater volatility than in recent years is likely. The current-account deficit should narrow in 2008 because of higher oil prices, but it will widen again from 2009 owing to rising invisibles debits.
OSCE’s Statement of Preliminary Findings and Conclusions on the 18 August 2007 Parliamentary Elections in Kazakhstan
Here is the link to OSCE’s report on preliminary findings and conclusions on the election.
